As you look to attract more business, there is one question that will be on the minds of your prospects that you need to be able to answer: “What’s in it for me?”
When approaching or seeking to attract a new client, customer or partner you have to be able to clearly articulate “what’s in it for them”
If you can’t articulate this, then I suggest that you either revisit your approach until you have developed a compelling answer to this question – a compelling proposition – or re consider whether you should approach the prospect at all
Why is this important?
You have a brief window of opportunity to make an impact with a prospect. Your approach can either fill their “more clutter” basket or create interest for further dialogue
Creating interest
To create interest, focus on the outcomes that they can receive as a result of involvement with you. Talk less about what you do and more about what they will get from you. Focus on the needs of your prospect rather than on your business.
Positives/Negatives
Think about the positive things that you can give them more of e.g. increased awareness, retention, loyalty, sales, relationships, enhanced image, etc and the negative things you can help them get less of e.g. employee turnover, costs, waiting time etc
Quantify
Quantify where possible to give the prospect a real sense of the outcomes that they can expect for example “As a result of last year’s event, company X developed two new clients that contributed $100,000 in revenue” or “Businesses who participated in the program experienced a 20% reduction in employee turnover over a two year period. A specific example is company Z whose Managing Director said etc…..”
“And this is what it will look like”
Use images to show how it will be for them, for example, an image of your prospect’s target audience swarming around their exhibition stand might send a strong message of what’s in it for a potential exhibitor.
Taking these steps will help to develop a proposition that is compelling for a prospect and gets straight to the point of why they should choose you.
Join me in Sydney on November 26 to learn more on how to become effective at business development – details here
